Note 170 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
The legislature of Massachusetts had, before Congress recommended the national Convention, instructed its delegates in Congress not to agree to any modification of the fifth Article of the Confederation, which prohibited the members of Congress from holding any office under the United States, for which they or any other person for their benefit could receive any salary, fee, or emolument. This instruction was repealed, by the unqualified manner in which the State accepted the recommendation for a national Convention. But it shows the sentiment of the State on this point, and it also shows the jealousy that was felt.